Is FaceBook for Accountants and Marketing

Have a look at http://bit.ly/4ERArx where there is comparison data for Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter.

And, yes, you can follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/david_winch

David

It is interesting the see the comparisons of the major social network sites, though these are only ages which is rather limited in usefulness for marketing an accounting practice.

I do feel some accountants may gain from investing time and money into Facebook as there must be potential clients and benefits in establishing and developing relationships. However, not only considering the target market but the nature and general usage of Facebook being mostly for 'fun and friendship' I do think it will be of limited benefit for the majority of accountants.

The question really is not so much can Facebook be used for marketing an accountancy practice, but with limited resources of time and money would there be better options to consider than Facebook for the return expected?

David Toohey
The Accountants Circle

I agree with David, I do use facebook but not as a targeted marketing strategy, more for developing relationships with people I already know. 

Personally I think there are better alternatives for a professional marketing strategy such as blogging.

 I saw this article on David Walters blog on Your Online Social Media CV which I though was appropriate here.

Has anyone used Facebook for Recruitment ?

What do you think about blocking Facebook in the office - Good or Bad ?

Phil

 There is a new Facebook report out which makes some interesting reading, you can download it from the HubSpot blog .

What the report suggests is that Facebook is growing, developing and changing, and the report takes a detailed look at how business and professional services firms are using this free platform to gain business.

14% of all facebook pages are from Local business and Professional Service firms, and most pages have less than 500 fans.

The report is full of facts that are worthy of consideration and also provide a link to some further resources including a Free Facebook Marketing kit.

In the meantime I have been doing some research of my own and found as follows:-

In searching the fan Pages for Accountants there were approx 380 pages, of which 40 or so were UK based and had a fan base of more than 10 people.

I followed all of these and posted an invite on every firms Facebook Fan Page Wall to ask them to post their views on this discussion. You have not seen any responses here! Only one firm did respond to my post on their Facebook page.

This tends to suggest to me that a few firms have set up pages on Facebook, but are not necessarily winning business there, or actively responding and using the platform to it fullest potential.

When looking at 40 or so Accountants Facebook Pages I noticed several things:-

1. Many did not have their website linked to their Fan Page.

2. Many did not have their location or opening hours on their page.

3. Some even blocked facebook wall posts and discussions - leaving no way for a visitor to engage with them !

4. For many their only wall posts were those fed from their blogs

5. Most did not provide a link to their newsletter subscription

6. Most did not provide content for the Facebook audience in particular

In conclusion it seems that although some practices have set up a page and "put it there", there is not much business activity happening.

Does this mean that it is a waste of time, or does it mean that there is not an accountancy practice that has worked the Facebook platform to their advantage yet ?

As we arrive at 2010 and budgets are being looked at, maybe there is a practice or two wanting to put real effort into a Free Online Platform and take the lead ? 

One last small statistic. The UK is Facebooks 3rd largest geographical location for Fan Pages. There are just over 1000 UK fan pages with 16million fans, a rough calculation suggests thats about 26% of the UK population ?

Phil

Interesting thread.

As a practice we are researching the merits of online marketing through linkedin, twitter, facebook, etc.

I keep thinking it has to be the way forward but would like to see some tangible evidence before I commit resources to it.

Tricky one....

This is the conventional wisdom of all marketing experts and social media gurus.

My own experience would suggest that they're right. And it's something I stress quite heavily whenever I talk to groups of accountants about SOCIAL media and SOCIAL networking.

I tend to think that 'social' in this context can be compared with ANTI-social. Many social networks are like a local pub or club. If someone new turned up and started marketing and promoting themselves they'd be unlikely to acheive much other than upseting the locals. SOCIAL media is NOT a broadcast medium. To be successful you have to make time to engage with the locals - just as you would if you joined a new club or moved to a new village.

So if you do decide to start marketing through SOCIAL media my advice would be to be subtle and to take it slow and easy. get to know the villagers, understand their ways, habits and interests.  They will only start to become interested in your marketing messages once they get to know you.

I've shared some tips re online networking on my blog for ambitious accountants. And about twitter especially here.

Mark Lee

I agree with Mark's point wholeheartedly.

Many accountants ask me what will be the ROI from Social Networking. And whilst there are many metrics you can apply - Hits on your website, New Business or heaven help us the amount of Followers, Connections or Friends you can attract.

I think it's somewhat more complex than simple metrics. It's about enhancing your reputation, providing thought leadership. strengthening client retention, building your brand and giving unswervingly to your chosen community.

Taking it back to the old world this could be summarised as building old fashioned relationships via integrity, honesty and professionalism.

Developments by the social networking platforms enhancing their geo targeting or niche targeting capability has made the targeting of your fellow networkers a whole lot easier. And to return to Mark's analogy you can now at least find the right pub to socialise in.

If you're prepared to invest the time you can create a community who through your endeavours Know Like and Trust you and are willing to engage with you on an almost daily basis. Building such rapport and trust through conventional marketing is virtually impossible.

Regards

Mike

 There are THREE BIG problems with Facebook that most ignore at their peril.

1. Facebook's security is appalling.
2. It's understanding of how its customers accounts get hacked is abysmal
3. Facebook is continually playing around with privacy in a determined effort to turn Facebook into an advertising mall. 

I have been within a gnat's whisker of closing my FB account at least three times. In the meantime I have it totally locked down to only people I really, really know. 

@phil - you know the people behind Farmville? If not then you don't want to...Rumour has it they're rather shady character.

This is a very legitimate question to ask!

However, we do need to be cautious of where we may be blaming the medium for the faults of the message.

An example...if you go to WHSmith's and buy a blank notepad and pen and then struggle to write a book - is it WHSmith's fault? Or does it mean that notepads and pens are themselves useless? No, but it does mean that they are tools which have to be used in line with a strategy to stand any chance of success.

There's no hard and fast rule as to whether Facebook (etc) is "right" for your company (as it depends on many factors) but I would say this, consider that:

1) there are now approaching 500 million users on Facebook. Can you imagine that within that number are some of your customers, your potential customers, referral sources etc?

2) Many people use Facebook for purely personal reasons, many for purely business reasons and many, many more as a mix of the two.

3) Bear in mind the advertising opportunities on Facebook - you can do VERY targeted advertising - not just geographic but targeting companies and job titles (simple not possible on many other platforms). 

I think the biggest problem with Facebook Fan Pages is that they only take minutes to create - bereft of strategy they are doomed to fail...and the assumption is then made that the "fault" lies with Facebook.

Joel

 Thanks to everyone for your comments.

I guess the jury is still out on whether marketing On facebook works for accountants.

The facts remain, facebook is a popular place for people to hang out, and accountants have clients that are people, therefore it may well form part of some practice's marketing strategy.

There may be questions over facebooks privacy and security , but is that really an issue if you use it as a platform to connect with people ?

Strategy seems to be a key point here, any facebook activity is a waste of time if it has no real strategy and if it is not part of an overall marketing strategy.

So if you have failed to find a facebook strategy and your clients start to use facebook outside their personal life, say by interaction with their lawyer, dentist, or even landlord ? What will you as an accountant in practice do ?

So, for an accountant in practice.....

1. Would you add a client as a facebook friend ?

2. Would you accept the invite if a client added you ?

Or is Facebook for business like marmite ? Its either love or hate ?

So, for an accountant in practice.....

1. Would you add a client as a facebook friend ? 

2. Would you accept the invite if a client added you ?

I would really avoid both of the above.  I have a relatively unusual name and so am not difficult to find on facebook.  Surely we're all entitled to a private life.  I have very respectable accountant life and a life as a person who likes to go out and have a few beers with friends etc.  Not that I do anything too wild or embarrassing but I would like to think I can relax and not wonder what would happen if I did get too drunk one night and a facebook photo and sarcastic comments from mates ended up on the back page of Accountancy Age magazine.

I automatically untag any photos of me that others put on there and friends are under strict instructions not to tag me in photos.

Let me have a life outside accountancy is what I say.

Phil and the group,

While facebook profiles are generally for personal interaction, the concept of facebook pages has evolved to cater to the commercial possibilities.

A few advantages of pages:

1. You can build a circle of influence because people "like" your page (fan club)

2. You can regularly update your fans (like a newsletter)

3. You can advertise your page on fb and have your ad show up ONLY to 'accountants' if you please (business)

4. You can use the fb page to capture leads and present advertising messages

5. You can create events, blogs, webcasts that are available to the entire fb population

Here are a couple of examples:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Careful-When-You-Outsource/279337099098

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pepsi?v=app_451127320136

Hope it helps.

Nothing says it better than the article here

http://fb.doonlinebusiness.info

I would suggest that "Nothing says it better" than David Toohey's comments early on this thread:

"The question really is not so much can Facebook be used for marketing an accountancy practice, but with limited resources of time and money would there be better options to consider than Facebook for the return expected?"

Mark

I am not sure the problem is Facebook or accountants?

As far as I am concerned Inbound Marketing using tools like Facebooks require a few things:

• Niche...most accountants are general practitioners
• Creative...most accountants are not
• Time....most accountants are too busy
• Value...most accountants are compliance based and have little value to offer.

Now, if an accountant specialised in an industry where the market used Facebook, did more than accounts/tax and ran a club with great content then maybe it would work?  

I think the key is creating content which is so good people would pay for it.

Bob Harper

Portfolio Marketing

That's exactly why I choose to blog Bob.  It gives me the opportunity to show the range of services offered by George Hay and then add my own views and hot topics in my chosen specialism.

I then use facebook, twitter etc to market my blog, providing the right audience with the right content.

To me, social media marketing should be a considered strategy and focusing on just one or two streams misses the point somewhat.  If you're not interested in investing the time to create your own blog, specific forums such as UK  business labs can create great focus groups and discussion, but above all can give accountants the chance to show that they can be creative, dynamic, personable etc.

and take an objective look.

I bet ------there are more facebook users OFFERING accountancy services than there are SEEKING.

It is now saturated.

Even if there are 500 million users.

End of.

Just thought I would come by and bump this thread a bit to see if anyone is changing their views at all with facebook as I am seeing more and more fb pages for accountants popping up so am wondering if this is out of curiosity or whether more people are experiencing a better return now that more time has gone by.

Hi,

Several of my clients are trying to get work through FaceBook with very little success. However Twitter seems to be producing some really good results.

I don't know if this will change but I think it is fair to say FaceBook is really not the best place to look at business to business selling/networking. I use it personally but haven't yet decided to have a business presence as it just doesn't seem the right forum.

Having said that if you are a retail business it’s the place to be! I have friends who are getting loads of work through FaceBook.

Would be interested to hear how others feel about it?

David

David Ellis

Managing Director
T: 01604 211221

E: david@qualityimpactmarketing.com

W: www.qualityimpactmarketing.com

I am on facebook but never really set out to use it as a marketing thing.  I see it the same way as I see my blog, an excellent method of allowing people to get to know me, how I work, how I think and what I do - and as a way of promoting blog posts as and when I write them.

I didn't set out to make money from a facebook presence but I have been complimented that a crusty old accountant is aware of facebook and willing to join in and give rather than just expect to take from the community.

I prefer facebook to forum membership now.  I am only active on one forum these days but approach it with exactly the same ethos.  To help and offer advice when someone asks. 

I have never expected work from forums or facebook but it rolls in steadily and shows to me that these things are tools - as has been said before - and it is how we use them that defines the outcome.  It seems people in general remember a personality who helped them a year or even more ago with a question on a forum clearly enough that they contact that personality when they need full professional work undertaking.

In my professional life I have always found it is far better to give information and knowledge out with no expectations and the more I give the better the returns.  I know a few accountants that deem themselves too busy, too important and too specialized to hand out advice - even when it comes to simple things like reminding people when the minimum wage changes - but that is why they complain to me when we chat that they never get anywhere with the internet and wonder why I bother with it.

@Ray - What a refreshing approach! You must be a dream to market for! 

-- David Ellis Managing Director T: 01604 211221 E: david@qualityimpactmarketing.com W: www.qualityimpactmarketing.com

Interesting comment Ray, would you say that things are producing more results for you now than they were say a year ago?